


Reconstruction

by Kalloway



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Genre: Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 07:30:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6414568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Reconstruction of Kain Highwind</p><p>(Parts 1-5)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reconstruction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Masu_Trout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/gifts).



_one_

Along with a myriad of other reconstruction projects across the world - each one documented by either himself or one of his carefully selected group of counselors, liaisons, and ambassadors - Cecil realized that there was a more personal reconstruction beginning close to him. He caught only glimpses of it at first, partly because there was so much to do and not enough hours in the day to do it, but also... They'd drifted, just a bit. They were drifting and Cecil didn't like that at all. Not after everything they'd been through.

Cecil vowed that he would keep watch and do whatever he could whenever he could to help with the reconstruction of Kain Highwind, even if that help meant stepping back when Kain needed time and space more than anything else. But at the moment, Cecil could see that Kain wanted to be close to people. He had a full company of new recruits who hung off his every word and trailed after him to learn everything they could. Cecil knew it was a good foundation for Kain to build on and that Kain had formed it all on his own... Mostly on his own, just like how Cecil had reined in his nervousness at suddenly being king. Kain was within reach. Rosa was at his side. It was a beginning.

He was not surprised, really, when Kain found him up on the castle wall one night, taking in the cool air and the view of the city.

"I was thinking of going up the mountain," Kain said as he sat down beside Cecil.

Cecil reached over to rest a hand on Kain's shoulder. He smiled and quite nearly laughed at the wide-eyed surprise on Kain's face when he calmly asked "when do you want to leave?"

_two_

Kain wasn't exactly sure that it wasn't cheating to take an airship to Mysidia and just walk from there, but Cecil countered that it would be good training for Kain's devoted soldiers and they could help out in Mysidia for the duration. Besides, it wasn't like they could walk the entire way there anyway, at least without getting very, very wet. The Devil's Road was right out for a myriad of reasons, including its feel of definitely cheating, even if it did take a toll.

Cecil spoke of his own uncertainties as they walked that first day - his own lingering guilt and fear and regret... Kain simply listened and promised himself that he'd be strong - his beloved best friend was trusting him with all of this. Cecil was beside him, doing this without hesitation like he'd truly always been and would be.

The first night, when Cecil pressed close to keep warm in their too-thin tent, Kain realized what Cecil was really trying to say underneath all of his other words.

"I know you trust me. I know you forgive me. I just need to trust and forgive myself and... like you said, it isn't easy."

Cecil was already asleep, though, and Kain followed soon after.

_three_

Upon their return, Rosa could sense that both Kain and Cecil had changed, however they also both seemed very much like themselves and the selves they'd been years before. She didn't ask about the actual mountain and neither offered any details. Cecil stopped trying to do too much, as if he'd suddenly learned that his constant exhaustion wasn't an actual benefit to Baron. And Kain was at his side more, which meant she saw more of Kain as well. Slowly, little things were being rebuilt. Reconstructed, she supposed, though there was quite a lot of new construction, too. Things were being built that had never been there before - homes, shops, more... Bonds were being forged, both new and ones nearly lost.

She thought about her own mountain, which she honestly thought might be a low ridge compared to what Kain and Cecil had both conquered, and wondered at her own silence and inability to articulate that-- No, it was fear. She was afraid, still...

It took her two weeks of working herself up to it, but finally, curled against Cecil in bed, tired but awake, Rosa decided she'd watched enough and had to make her own contribution. She'd seen Cecil do so many things, and seen Kain become so much stronger without losing any of the softness he tried to hide. They'd come so far. She'd... There was something she could give them both - especially Kain. She could give, she could...

She spoke her mind quickly and then waited, barely able to look at Cecil.

"You should have said something sooner," Cecil finally said as he reached to run his fingers through her hair. There was no accusation or harshness in his tone, simply a quiet statement with a hint of sadness. "I should have said something."

There wasn't anything that he went on to tell her, though, that she didn't already know.

_four_

Kain waited until he was sure that Rosa was asleep before carefully slipping out from under her arm and crawling from the bed. Beside her, Cecil was asleep as well, pale hair half-fanned out around his head. Kain closed his eyes for a moment and tried not to think of how he'd had his fingers tangled in Cecil's hair, how Rosa had...

He grabbed enough of his clothing to look presentable and dressed quickly before darting out into the hallway. The castle was quiet - no one saw him and Kain didn't see anyone until he was far enough away from the royal bedchambers to not implicate himself in anything.

Both Cecil and Rosa had asked him and he'd agreed. Kain didn't know why he'd agreed, but he had. And now he'd spent a night in bed with the two people he loved most and he didn't know what do to. Climb another mountain, probably. He'd just had the best night of his life and he couldn't manage to even feel good about it.

That was probably the worst part.

He went up to sit on the castle wall, exactly where Cecil had been when he'd come to ask about Mt. Ordeals.

"Kain..."

Kain wasn't even sure how long he'd been looking out into the night - not even at anything in particular, just into the darkness.

"Kain..."

Both of them?

A moment later, Cecil was on one side of him, Rosa on the other, both in their nightclothes and leaning against him.

"It wasn't just a one night offer."

"And you have to sleep in the middle so you don't escape again."

_five_

Not everything could be rebuilt in a day, or a week, or a month, or even a year. Cecil knew that. Reconstruction would be ongoing. There would be good days, bad days, days where the sun shone and it rained at the same time, and days where really nothing happened and not for any particular reason. There would be no particular way to know when the reconstruction was done, because it wouldn't be when the last stone was put in place or when the last beam was set. It wouldn't be when the last memorial was raised or when the first new child was born. Nobody would really know, but eventually, suddenly, Cecil was fairly sure he'd look out and it'd be done. The world would be restored - it wouldn't be the same, because it couldn't be. No town or kingdom would be the same as it had been before Baron attacked, but it would be how it needed to be.

For now, Kain was sprawled beside him, relaxed, while Rosa put away the last few dishes from the picnic lunch they'd stopped to eat on their way to visit Mist. Cecil reached down to snag a bit of Kain's long ponytail and twirl it between his fingers.

Maybe he hadn't just been watching Kain's reconstruction - maybe he'd been watching his own, too, and Rosa's... and theirs, all of them together like they needed to be.

"We're not in any sort of hurry, are we?"

"Not at all.

"Not at all..."

**Author's Note:**

> (Fixed a bit of strange formatting from AO3 rejecting the original html and substituting its own.)


End file.
